This is the post for the week of November 29, 2016.

Connecting with Your Writing Group

We only have one more week of classes, so this is your last chance to get feedback and help from your group. You can post drafts of your remaining work in the 11/29 Group Discussion. Be sure to provide feedback on these drafts to your group members before you leave for Thanksgiving break so that you can work during break if desired.

Revising Projects After Grading

I have encouraged you to turn your work as early as possible, so that you would have time to revise. We have come to the point in the term when time for revision is no longer a given.

At this point, I will grade your work as quickly as possible, but I cannot guarantee that I will be able to return work fast enough for you to revise. Everything depends upon when you submit and how many others have submitted work. I have about 100 students, so logistically, if everything comes in during the last days, there’s no way to get it all graded before the 7th. The sooner you turn things in, the better your chances.

Additional Discussions Opportunities

If you need additional participation evidence, you can post comments and replies in these new Discussions:

• Comparing Self-Assessment Examples (small group)
• What Makes a Good Presentation? (large class)
• Email vs. Hard Copy (small group)
• What Makes a Good Piece of Technical Writing? (large class)

These Discussions are all due Monday, December 5. The end of the grace period for these discussion posts is Wednesday, December 7 (the last day of classes).

Including Evidence of Participation in Your Final

You will propose the grade you should receive for the participation portion of your course grade in your Final Exam. To support your proposal, you can use the information in your Participation Log and your Discussion Posts. To do so, you can include the share link to your Participation Log and links to contributions in Discussion Posts. You can also include screenshots or copy and paste relevant information.

Continue Work on Your Projects

Continue work on your projects, following the schedule you set in your Coursework Proposal.

• Follow the project submissions instructions, if you are ready to submitting one of your remaining major projects.
• All your work is ultimately due by November 30, with a grace period that ends on December 7 (the last day of classes).

Calendar for the Rest of the Term

Day	Date	What’s left to do?
Tu	Nov 29	Post your group discussion during the week, according to the schedule on the Writing Groups page.
W	Nov 30	Major Projects due at 11:59 PM. Follow the project submissions instructions.
W	Dec 7	End of the grace period for remaining Major Projects at 11:59 PM. Follow the project submissions instructions.
M	Dec 12	Final Exam: Completion Report Assignment due by 11:59 PM. No grace period.

 

This is the post for the week of November 15, 2016.

Connecting with Your Writing Group

We have only 12 class days left in the semester, so the time to get feedback and help from your group is quickly coming to an end. Ideally, you will have drafts of your remaining work to post this week in the 11/15 Group Discussion. Be sure to provide feedback on these drafts to your group members before you leave for Thanksgiving break so that you can work during break if desired.

Unsure Whether to Participate in Optional Discussions?

The optional discussions (listed in the Nov 1 post) contribute to your Participation grade. Look at the Participation Log you set up the week of September 6. Your goals are listed on each tab (e.g., 10 class contributions, 10 small group contributions).

If you do not have enough evidence of participation or of a particular kind of participation, you can contribute to the optional discussions to improve your participation in the course. The end of the grace period for all optional discussion posts is Friday, November 18.

How Participation Grades Will Appear in Canvas

You will propose the grade you should receive for the participation portion of your course grade in your Final Exam. To support your proposal, you can use the information in your Participation Log and your Discussion Posts.

The current course grades in Canvas are not accurate, since you will propose the Participation grade. You can see the categories that contribute to your grade in the Grades section of Canvas. After the last day of classes, the weights for these categories will change in Canvas in these ways:

• The Participation Evidence category of your course grade will switch from 15% to 0%. All of the information for the Participation Artifacts will still be available in Canvas, but they will no longer contribute to your course grade.

• The Participation category of your course grade will switch from 0% to 15%. The final exam is the only assignment in this category. I will read the proposal that you make in your final, and assign a grade based on how realistic* and convincing you are as well as how well written your proposal is.

To be realistic, you need to look at your participation as a teacher would. For instance, everyone misses an activity, but if you have missed a number of activities, you are not doing A work on the participation portion of your grade. Likewise, A-level participation is consistent, taking place across the entire semester. If your activities were only in the last weeks of class, you are not doing A work on the participation portion of your grade.

Continue Work on Your Projects

Continue work on your projects, following the schedule you set in your Coursework Proposal.

• Follow the project submissions instructions, if you are ready to submitting one of your remaining major projects.
• All your work is ultimately due by November 30, with a grace period that ends on December 7 (the last day of classes).
• I encourage you to turn your work in earlier, so that you can revise if you need to.
• Note that I do not grade projects during Thanksgiving Break.

Calendar for the Rest of the Term

Day	Date	What’s left to do?
Tu	Nov 15	Post your group discussion during the week, according to the schedule on the Writing Groups page.
F	Nov 18	Post a second self-assessment in your Participation Log (see the Nov 1 post). End of grace period for all open Discussions at 11:59 PM.
Th	Nov 24	Thanksgiving!!!
Tu	Nov 29	Post your group discussion during the week, according to the schedule on the Writing Groups page.
W	Nov 30	Major Projects due at 11:59 PM. Follow the project submissions instructions.
W	Dec 7	End of the grace period for remaining Major Projects at 11:59 PM. Follow the project submissions instructions.
M	Dec 12	Final Exam: Completion Report Assignment due by 11:59 PM. No grace period.

This is the post for the week of November 8, 2016.

Assess Your Remaining Work

In addition to the regular discussion with your writing group this week in the 11/8 Group Discussion, please post a progress report that tells us

• what you have completed
• what work you still have to do
• how you plan to complete the remaining work for the project.

Include any questions or concerns you have that may affect your progress. Use headings and design to make your report easy to read and understand. Aim for about 150 to 200 words. Specifically, go beyond simply saying, "I’m on track," to state exactly what is done and what is still on your to-do list.

I have two goals for your progress report:

1. I want you to create a "to do" list for the work you still need to accomplish. In my experience, students find such a list useful whether they plan to work during Thanksgiving break or when they get back to campus. Either way, it’s helpful to know exactly what you still need to do.

2. I need to know if you have any challenges in finishing the work for the course. We still have time to fix anything that we need to at this point. After Thanksgiving time will seem to move quickly. I want you to alert me now, rather than then.

Continue Work on Your Projects

Continue work on your projects, following the schedule you set in your Coursework Proposal.

• Follow the project submissions instructions, if you are ready to submitting one of your remaining major projects.
• All your work is ultimately due by November 30, with a grace period that ends on December 7 (the last day of classes).
• I encourage you to turn your work in earlier, so that you can revise if you need to.
• Note that I do not grade projects during Thanksgiving Break.

Calendar for the Rest of the Term

Day	Date	What’s left to do?
Tu	Nov 8	Post your group discussion during the week, according to the schedule on the Writing Groups page.
F	Nov 11	All open Discussions (listed in the Nov 1 post) are due. These optional discussions can contribute to your Participation grade.
Tu	Nov 15	Post your group discussion during the week, according to the schedule on the Writing Groups page.
F	Nov 18	Post a second self-assessment in your Participation Log (see the Nov 1 post). End of grace period for all open Discussions at 11:59 PM.
Th	Nov 24	Thanksgiving!!!
Tu	Nov 29	Post your group discussion during the week, according to the schedule on the Writing Groups page.
W	Nov 30	Major Projects due at 11:59 PM. Follow the project submissions instructions.
W	Dec 7	End of the grace period for remaining Major Projects at 11:59 PM. Follow the project submissions instructions.
M	Dec 12	Final Exam: Completion Report Assignment due by 11:59 PM.

This is the post for the week of November 1, 2016.

Check Your Participation and Prep for the Final

The final exam report isn’t due until December, but you will find the project easier if you have been tracking your participation throughout the term. With that idea in mind, take time this week to check your progress.

Review the Final Exam: Completion Report Assignment and your Participation Log to make sure that you are on track. If you find that you are behind on Class Discussion and/or Small Group Discussion, take advantage of the many optional discussion opportunities in Canvas. Replying to classmates in these discussions is an easy way to improve your participation. The due date for all additional discussions is November 11. The grace period ends on November 18. These discussions are available:

• Ethics: Using Images in Your Work
• Ethics: Details in a Progress Report
• Ethics: Faking Images in PhotoShop
• Ethics: Disclosure of a Security Flaw
• Ethics: Engineering Specifications
• Improving Networking Advice
• What Would You Propose?
• Comparing the Design and Layout of Two Textbooks
• Evaluating a Factsheet for User Friendliness
• Status Reports vs. Progress Reports
• Finding a Code of Conduct on a Web Site

By this point you should also have written one self-assessment of your performance. The instructions are on the last tab of the log spreadsheet. The idea is that you look back over the entries in your log and evaluate how you’re doing. You should focus on your strengths and how you can improve. Use the requirements for the final to help guide the information you look for in your log.

Continue Work on Your Projects

Continue work on your projects, following the schedule you set in your Coursework Proposal.

• Post and reply in the 11/1 Group Discussion, following the instructions on the Writing Groups page. Share any drafts and questions that you have.
• In order to get feedback from your writing group before Thanksgiving, be sure to post your drafts in the next week. That will give classmates a week to provide you feedback.
• Follow the project submissions instructions, if you are ready to submitting one of your remaining major projects.
• All your work is ultimately due by November 30, with a grace period that ends on December 7 (the last day of classes).
• I encourage you to turn your work in earlier, so that you can revise if you need to.
• Note that I do not grade projects during Thanksgiving Break.